Re: Fender or Marshall amp preferred for Strat?
Most of the time, I like a bright, yet warm ("juicy"), tone without too much distortion – only enough so that it breaks up when you hit the strings hard, not so that it always sounds compressed and fuzzy regardless of how you attack the strings. I like the sound to be hard when I hit hard, and to be mild when I hit mild, not to sound the same regardless of how I hit the strings. I really like single-coil Strats through Fender amps, and don't much like them through most Marshalls. With humbuckers, OTOH, I love Strats through Marshalls. In each of these cases, the natural tendencies of the amp counterbalance well with the natural tendencies of the pickup. Fender amps warm up Strat pickups, and Marshall amps thin out and brighten humbuckers. Both are good things IMO. All that said, it's difficult to generalize Fender amps and Marshall amps, because there are so many different models of each.